What Are the Most Important Factors for Pedestrian Level-of-Service Estimation? A Systematic Review of the Literature

Abstract

Pedestrian environments are becoming more important in an urbanizing world where walking is increasingly being encouraged. Engineers and planners determine a link’s performance using measures codified as level-of-service, which provide guidance on acceptable or desirable standards. A range of approaches are used in determining pedestrian level-of-service (PLOS), incorporating a wide variety of factors and with much debate as to what should or should not be used. There has been no systematic attempt to synthesize this research and provide an over-arching perspective. Our review surveyed PLOS models from the peer-reviewed literature using a systematic quantitative literature review method based on the protocol developed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review Recommendations (PRISMA). PLOS models are increasingly being developed; 22 of the 58 studies surveyed were produced since 2013. Earlier work adapted approaches used to determine automobile LOS to PLOS. Later approaches use a much wider range of factors but with very little consistency across the studies surveyed. Collectively these factors can be grouped in themes of: comfort, safety, and mobility. The most used factors were, in order: footpath width; obstructions to pedestrian flow; motor vehicle speeds and volumes; shoulder widths; and buffers such as on-street parking. However, many of the factors being included have not been empirically studied and almost none of the tools in use have been tested for such matters as inter-rater reliability.